Thursday, August 04, 2005

Arbor Vitae

A few weeks back I performed at the Arbor Vitae Art Fair, in the Northwoods Wisconsin resort town of Arbor Vitae. It was a great setting for an art fair, out in a wooded park, surrounded by pines. Very enjoyable day, good weather, very nice people.

I shared the stage with Greg Percy, an art teacher from Madison Wisconsin who writes songs about, you guessed it, art. The songs are mostly geared towards children. More popular titles included "Van Gogh, no stereo", and "Picasso Polka". I know you're groaning, but he really pulls these off well, getting kids from the audience up on stage to participate. He really does a good job of merging historically, interesting art knowledge with the down-to-earth way that children view art.

Anyway, it was a nice mix for an art fair, his educational stuff and my instrumental stuff, switching back and forth. The crowd seemed to respond positively.

The whistle is a great instrument to learn. Fairly easy to pick up, cheap for the most part - until youget into the higher-end whistles. The funny thing is that my favorite whistles are still the cheaper ones. Oh, perhaps more importantly, much easier to lug around than a dulcimer!